Percy Jackson Goode Reads the Books
by fantasyluvr1234
Summary: It was just a normal day at Goode High in Mr. Blowfis's class, when five books appeared out of no where. Now the mortals at Goode are reading books about one of their classmates, and they are very surprized by what they hear. Rated T because i'm paranoid.
1. The arrival of the books

**Ok, so this is my first fanfic EVER, so i apoigize ahead of time for how bad it might be. I think that i should start out with a reading the books fanfic because i have always wanted to make one, and because i don't have to really think about making a story out of thin air. Bear with me here, and i strongly welcome constructive critism.**

**DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN ANYTHING!**

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Class at Goode High was going normally, students falling asleep in class, teachers giving long, boring lectures that put the students to sleep, and the occasional person who took notes during these lectures. But no one knew just how strange it was going to get very soon.

"And that is how you write a good summary."  
Paul said. He was just showing his English class how to make a good, grade "A" summary. "Now, to practice this new method I just showed you, you will be doing a short summary of the first two chapters in a book of your choice." Paul continued.

As he was saying this, two of Percy Jackson's close mortal friends were passing notes.  
_"Where do u think he is?"_ Mark wrote. He is on the swim team with Percy, has light brown hair, and hazel eyes that most people mistook for brown. He passed the note to Ryan and waited for an answer.  
Ryan has dirty blonde hair that is always messy no matter was he does to it. He has dark brown eyes that look almost black, and he is also really good friends with Percy and Mark. _ "I don't know, but I hope he's ok. We really need him for swim team if we want to beat the other schools."_ He wrote back.

Just then, a blinding light took over the whole classroom, and the whole class heard five big noises that sounded strangely like books falling to the ground. The light left a few seconds later and everyone saw five semi-big books stacked on Mr. Blowfis's desk.  
"What are they?" Ali asked. She was the grade's most popular girl, with long blonde hair that went almost to her waist, and light blue eyes that every guy swooned over.  
"They're books you dimbo." Mark answered. Percy and his friends at Goode were almost the only guys that didn't like Ali. They they thought she was pretty, but her snobby attitude pretty much ruined it for them.

"Look! There's a note on the dark blue book! What does it say?" Asked Madeline, she was the quiet kid who always had her head in the books and only had a few close friends.

peeled the note off of one of the books and read it out loud to the class."It says:  
_Dear Mortals,_  
_We have sent you these books to read about one of your fellow classmates named Percy Jackson. These books are about his years from 6th grade up until he turned 16. Time has stopped in this room, so when you finish all five of the books, it will only be like a few minutes have passed. There is no real reason why we are doing this other than we are bored, and you are going to entertain us. Have fun! Hermes, the amazingly awesome Apollo, and the rest of the gods_."

The class was in complete silence for a while until Ryan broke the silence. "So? Can we start reading now? I would like to know more about Percy. He has so many secrets that it seems like I don't know him at all!"

"Yeah! I want to know more about Percy!" Mark exclaimed.

"Okay! Okay! Settle down, when you're ready we can read." Mr. Blowfis said calmly. He took the book on the top of the stack, made sure it was the first book, then opened it up and read: "**The Lightning Thief**."  
The class started whispering to each other about the book title when Paul said "I only read the title of the book and already you're talking, I can assure you that this book will get weirder than this title,so try to refrain from making a lot of interruptions." He opened the book back up and started reading. "Chapter one, **I accidentally vaporize my pre-algebra teacher**."

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**So? Was it Ok? Do you want me to make the next chapter? And Just to let you know, Percy and a few others will come at some point. :D**

**fanfasyluvr1234**


	2. I Accidently Vaporize My Teacher

**I officially have a new respect for all the authors that do reading the books fanfics. It takes an eternity just to type the chapter! I started working on this right when I go home from school yesterday, and didn't take a break except dinner and bathroom, and I just finished it! So, I'm not going to write really important stuff in these notes at the top and bottom, 'cause I know that almost no one reads these all the way through, so if you need to know something you are goin to have to tell me another way. :)**

He_ opened the book back up and started reading __**"Chapter one, I Accidentally Vaporize My Pre-Algebra Teacher"**_

**Disclamer: I DON'T OWN ANYTHING!**

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**"Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood. If you're reading this because you think you might be one, my advice is: close this book right now. Believe whatever lie your mom or dad told you about your birth, and try to lead a normal life."**

"It sounds like he's talking from experience." Madeline said, with a thoughtful look on her face. That's how the fantasy books usually start. She thought.

**Being a half-blood is dangerous. It's scary. Most of the time, it gets you killed in painful, nasty ways. If you're a normal kid, reading this because you think it's fiction, great. Read on. I envy you for being able to believe that none of this ever happened.**

"What happened?" Random kids in the class asked to no one in particular.

**But if you recognize yourself in these pages, if you feel something stirring inside, stop reading immediately. You might be one of us. And once you know that, it's only a matter of time before they sense it too, and they'll come for you. Don't say I didn't warn you.**

"That's strange. Do you know anything about this?" Ryan asked Mark.

"No. I have no idea what he's talking about, but it sounds dangerous." Mark told Ryan. Usually Percy told them about the most major events in his life, and this sounds pretty major, but he never heard about it.

**"My name is Percy Jackson. I'm twelve years old. Until a few months ago, I was a boarding student at Yancy Academy, a private school for troubled kids in upstate New York. Am I a troubled kid? Yeah. You could say that.**

"Ha! He agrees!" Ryan yelled out loud. Some of the more popular kids looked at him strangely, but he took no notice to it, and told Paul to keep reading.

**"I could start at any point on my short miserable life to prove it, but things really started going bad last May, when our sixth-grade class took a field trip to Manhattan, twenty-eight mental case kids and two teachers on a yellow school bus, heading to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to look at Ancient Greek and Roman stuff."**

"Sounds like torture." Ryan groaned. He knew that Percy would not be able to handle that much boringness, and would soon cause something to happen that wasn't meant to happen.

**"I know, it sounds like torture."**

"Ryan, your starting to sound like Percy." Mark told him.

"We'll we all knew it was gonna happen at some point." Ryan answered. He didn't look at all bothered that he was thing the same as Percy.

**"Most Yancy field trips were. But Mr. Brunner, out Latin teacher, was leading this trip, so I had high hopes. Mr. Brunner was this middle-aged guy in a motorized wheelchair. He had thinning hair and a scruffy beard and a frayed tweed jacket, which always smelled like coffee.**

"Wonderful description." A girl in the back of the classroom said.

Some other girls also in the back of the class giggled at what she said.

**You wouldn't think he'd be cool, but he told stories and jokes and let us play games in class. He also had this awesome collection of Roman armor and weapons, so he was the only teacher whose class didn't put me to sleep. I hoped the trip would be okay. At least, I hoped that for once I wouldn't get in trouble. Boy was I wrong. See, bad things happen to me on field trips. Like at my fifth-grade school, when we went to the Saratoga battlefield, I had this accident with a Revolutionary War cannon. I wasn't aiming for the school bus, but of course I got expelled anyway.**

"Woah! Percy never told us about that!" Ryan exclaimed.

**And before that, at my fourth-grade school, when we took a behind-the-scenes tour of the Marine World shark pool, I sort of hit the wrong lever on the catwalk and out class took and unplanned swim.**

"That was better than the war cannon!" Ryan yelled out again, much to the annoyance of Mark, who was sitting right next to him.

**And the time before that . . . Well, you get the idea. This trip, I was determined to be good. All the way into the city, I put up with Nancy Bobofit, the freckly, readheaded kleptomatic girl, hitting my best friend Grover in the back of the head with chunks of peanut butter- and - ketchup sandwich. **

"Eww!" A few of the more popular and girly girls said quietly.

**Grover was an easy target. He must've been held back several grades, because he was the only sith grader with acne and the start of a wispy beard on his chin. On top of all that, he was crippled. He had a note excusing him from PE for the rest of his life because he had some kind of muscular disease in his legs. He walked funny, like every step hurt him, but don't let that fool you. You should've seen him run when it was enchilada day in the cafeteria.**

"Well that's nice to say about your best friend" Mark said sarcastically, while rolling his eyes.

** Anyway, Nancy Bobofit was throwing wads of sandwich that stuck in his curly brown hair, and she knew I couldn't do anything back to her because I was already on probation. The headmaster had threatened me with death by in-school suspension if anything bad, embarrassing, or even mildly entertaining happened on this trip. "I'm going to kill her," I mumbled. Grover tried to calm me down. **

**"Its okay. I like peanut butter." He dodged another piece of Nancy's lunch.**

"In your hair?" One of the quiet kids said in disbelief.

**"Thats it." I started to get up, but Grover pulled me back into my seat.**

**"Your're already on probation," He reminded me. "You know who'll get blamed if anything happens." Looking back on it, I wish I'd decked Nancy Bobofit right then and there. In-school suspension would've been nothing compared to the mess I was about to get myself into. Mr. Brunner led the museum tour. He rode up front in gis wheelchair, guiding us through the big echoey galleries, past marble statues and glass cases full of really old black - and - orange pottery. It blew my mind that this stuff had survived for two thousand, three thousand years. He gathered us around a thirteen - foot - tall stone column with a big sphinx on the top, and started telling us how it was a grave marker. a ****_stele, _****for a girl about out age.**

"That's so sad." Madeline said quietly. "She died when she was still a kid."

** He told us about the carvings on the sides. I was trying to listen to what he had to say, because it was kind of interesting, but everybody around me was talking, and every time I told them to shut up, the other teacher chaperone, Mrs. Dodds, would give me the evil eye. Mrs. Dodds was this little math teacher from Georgia who always wore a black leather jacket, even though she was fifty years old. She looked mean enough to ride a Harley right into your locker. She had come to Yancy halfway through the year, when out last math teacher has a nervous breakdown.**

_'I wonder what really happened.' _Paul thought, he had a feeling that Mrs. Dodds was a monster, just he wasn't sure which one.

** From her first day, Mrs. Dodds loved Nancy Bobofit and figured I was devil spawn. She would point her crooked finger at me and say, "Now, honey,'' real sweet, and I knew I was going to get after-school detention for a month. One time, after she'd made me erase answers out of old math workbooks until midnight, I told Grover I didn't think Mrs. Dodds was human. He looked at me, real serious, and said, "You're absolutely right."**

"Huh?" Was the question that was asked throughout the class.

**Mr. Brunner kept talking about Greek funeral art. Finally, Nancy Bobofit snickered something about the naked guy on the stele, and I turned around and said, "Will you ****_shut up_****?" It came out louder than it meant to.**

"It always does when it's Percy." Laughed Mark, with Ryan nodding in agreement.

** The whole group laughed. Mr. Brunner stopped his story. "Mr. Jackson," he said, "did you have a comment?"**

**My face was totally red. I said, "No, sir."**

**Mr. Brunner pointed to one of the pictures on the stele. "Perhaps you'll tell us what this picture represents?"**

**I looked at the carving, and felt a flush of relief, because I actually recognized it. "That's Kronos eating his kids, right?"**

**"Yes," Mr. Brunner said, obviously not satisfied. "And he did this because...''**

**''Well...'' I racked my brain to remember. "Kronos was the king god, and,''**

"Percy! Even I know that he was the king Titan!" Mark said exasperated.

**"God?'' Mr. Brunner asked.**

**"Titan,'' I corrected myself. ''And... he didn't trust his kids, who were the gods. So, um, Kronos ate them, right? But his wife hid baby Zeus, and game Kronos a rock to eat instead. And later, when Zeus grew up, he tricked his dad, Kronos, into barfing up his brothers and sisters,''**

**''Eeew!'' said one of the girls behind me.**

**''and so there was this big fight between the gods and the Titans,'' I continues, ''and the gods won."**

**Some snickers from the group. Behind me, Nancy Bobofit mumbled to a friend, ''Like we're going to use this in real life. Like its going to say on our job applications, 'Please explain why Kronos ate hid kids.'"**

_'Percy uses it in real life every day.' _Paul thought sadly, he didn't like that Percy was risking his life almost every day. '_And he still hasn't been heard from for months.' _**(A.N. Yes, this takes place during the son of Neptune, and I do know that the House of Hades has come out as well as the Mark of Athena, but I wanted this story to take place at this time for something later in the fanfic to work)**

**"And why Mr. Jackson," Brunner said, "to paraphrase Miss Bobofit's excellent question, does this matter in real life?''**

**''Busted,'' Grover muttered.**

**"Shut up,'' Nancy hissed, her face even brighter red than her hair. At least Nancy got packed, too. Mr. Brunner was the only one who ever caught her saying anything wrong. He had radar ears. **

**I thought about his question, and shrugged. ''I don't know sir.''**

**''I see.'' Mr. Brunner looked disappointed. ''Well, half credit, Mr. Jackson. Zeus did indeed feed Kronos a mixture of mustard and wine, which made him disgorge his other five children, who of course, being immortal gods, had been living and growing up completely undigested in the Titan's stomach. The gods defeated their father, sliced him to pieces with his own scythe, and scattered his remains in Tartarus, the darkest part of the Underworld. On that happy note, it's time for lunch. Mrs. Dodds, would you lead us back outside?"**

"It's not that happy." Whispered a student to his friend.

**The class drifted off, the girls holding their stomachs, the guys pushing each other around and acting like doofuses. Grover and I were about to follow when Mr. Brunner said, "Mr. Jackson." I knew what was coming.**

**I told Grover to keep going. Then I turned toward Mr. Brunner. "Sir?'' Mr. Brunner had this look that wouldn't let you go, intense brown eyes that could've been a thousand years old and had seen everything.**

**''You must learn the answer to my question,'' Mr. Brunner told me.**

**''About the Titans?''**

**''About real life. And how your studies apply to it.''**

"How _do _hid studies apply to it?" Madeline asked, she didn't know any job that used that information, except for maybe a teacher

**''Oh.''**

**''What you learn from me,'' he said, ''is vitally important. I expect you to treat it as such. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson.'' I wanted to get angry, this guy pushed me so hard. I mean, sure, it was kind of cool on tournament days, when he dressed up in a suit of Roman armor and shouted: ''What ho!'' and challenged us, sword-point against chalk, to run to the board and name every Greek and Roman person who had ever lived, and their mother, and what god they worshipped.**

**But Mr. Brunner expected me to be as good as everybody else, despite the fact that I have dyslexia and attention deficit disorder and I had never made above a C- in my life. No, he didn't expect me to be ****_as_****_good_****; he expected me to be****_ better_****. And I just couldn't learn all those names and facts, much less spell them correctly. **

**I mumbled something about trying harder, while took one long sad look at the stele, like he'd been at this girl's funeral.**

**He told me to go outside and eat my lunch.**

**The class gathered on the front steps of the museum, where we could watch the foot traffic along Fifth Avenue. Overhead, a huge storm was brewing, with clouds blacker than I'd ever seen over the city. I figured maybe it was global warming for something, because the weather all across New York state had been weird since Christmas. We'd had massive snow storms, flooding, wildfires from lightning strikes. I wouldn't have been surprised if there was a hurricane blowing in. Nobody else seemed to notice.**

_'Was it the mist?' _Paul asked himself.

**Some of the guys were pelting pigeons with Lunchables crackers. Nancy Bobofit was trying to pickpocket something from a lady's purse, and, of course, Mrs. Dodds wasn't seeing a thing. Grover and I sat on the Edge of the fountain, away from the others. We thought that maybe if we did that, everybody wouldn't know we were from ****_that_**** school, the school for loser freaks who couldn't make it elsewhere.**

**''Detention?'' Grover asked**

**''Nah,'' I said. ''Not from Brunner. I wish he'd lay off me sometimes. I mean, I'm not a genius.''**

**Grover didn't say anything for a while. Then, when I thought he was going to give me some deep philosophical comment to make me feel better, he said, ''Can I have your apple?" I didn't have much of an appetite, so I let him take it. I watched the stream of cabs going down Fifth Avenue, and thought about my mom's apartment, only a little ways uptown from where we sat. I hadn't seen her since Christmas. I wanted so bad to jump in a taxi and head home. She'd hug me and be glad to see me, but she'd be disappointed, too. She'd send me right back to Yancy, remind me that I had to try harder, even if this was my sixth school in six years**

"Wow, that's a lot of schools, why hasn't he been kicked out of this school yet?" Ryan asked to no one in particular.

**and I was probably going to be kicked out again. I wouldn't be able to stand that sad look she'd give me. Mr. Brunner parked his wheelchair at the base of the handicapped ramp. He ate celery while he read a paperback novel. A red umbrella stuck up from the back of his chair, making it look like a motorized café table. I was about to unwrap my sandwich when Nancy Bobofit appeared in front of me with her ugly friends, I guess she'd gotten tired of stealing from the tourists, and dumped her half-eaten lunch in Grover's lap.**

**''Oops.'' She grinned at me with her crooked teeth. Her freckles were orange, as if somebody spray-painted her face with liquid Cheetos.**

"Percy has a weird way of describing things. Liquid Cheetos?''

"Yeah, Percy describes a lot of things like that, but usually only people and things that he doesn't like.'' Mark answered. When he first met Percy, he thought it was a little weird too, but then he got used to it.

**I tried to stay cool. The school counselor had told me a million times, ''Count to ten, get control of your temper.'' But I was so mad my mind went bland. A wave roared in my ears.**

**I don't remember touching her, but the next thing I knew, Nancy was sitting on her butt in the fountain, screaming, "Percy pushed me!'' Mrs. Dodds materialized next to us. **

**Some of the kids were whispering: ''Did you see...''**

**''...the water...''**

**''...like it grabbed her...''**

"How is that possible?" One of the really smart students asked the boy sitting next to him.

"I don't think it is." He answered him.

**I didn't know what they were talking about. All I knew was that I was in trouble again.**

**As soon as Mrs. Dodds was sure poor little Nancy was okay, promising to get her a new shirt at the museum gift shop, etc, etc, Mrs. Dodds turned on me. There was a triumphant fire in her eyes, as if I'd done something she'd been waiting for all Semester. "Now, honey...''**

**''I know,'' I grumbled. ''A month erasing workbooks.'' That wasn't the right thing to say.**

**''Come with me,'' Mrs. Dodds said.**

**''Wait!''Grover yelped "It was me ****_I_**** pushed her.''**

**I stared at him stunned. I couldn't believe he was trying to cover for me. Mrs. Dodds scared Grover to death. She glared at him so hard his whiskery chin trembled.**

**''I don't think so, Mr. Underwood,'' She said.**

**''But...''**

**''You... will... stay... here...''**

**Grover looked at me desperately. **

**''Its okay, man,'' I told him "Thanks for trying.''**

**''Honey,'' Mrs. Dodds barked at me. ''****_Now.''_**

**Nancy Bobofit smirked.**

**I gave her my deluxe I'll-kill-you-later stare.**

"That stare can be really scary when Percy wants it to." Ryan whispered to Mark.

**Then I turned to face Mrs. Dodds, but she wasn't there. She was standing at the museum entrance, way up at the top of the steps, gesturing impatiently at me to come on. How'd she get there so fast? I have moments like that a lot, when my brain falls asleep or something, and the next thing I know I've missed something, as if a puzzle piece fell out of the universe and left me staring at the blank place behind it. The school counselor told me this was part of the ADHD, my brain misinterpreting things. I wasn't so sure. I went after Mrs. Dodds.**

"I have a bad feeling about this..." Madeline said to herself.

** Halfway up the steps, I glanced back at Grover. He was looking pale, cutting his eyes between me and Mr. Brunner, like he wanted Mr. Brunner to notice what was going on, But Mr. Brunner was absorbed in his novel. I looked back up. Mrs. Dodds had disappeared again. She was now inside the building, at the end of the entrance hall. Okay, I thought. She's going to make me buy a new shirt for Nancy at the gift shop. But apparently that wasn't the plan. I followed her deeper into the museum. When I finally caught up to her, we were back in the Greek and Roman section. Except for us, the gallery was empty. Mrs. Dodds stood with her arms crosse in front of a big marble frieze of the Greek gods. She was making this weird noise in her throat, like growling. Even without the noise, I would've been nervous. It's weird being alone with a teacher, especially Mrs. Dodds. Something about the way she looked at the frieze, as if she wanted to pulverize it...**

_'This doesn't sound good...' _Paul thought.

**''You've been giving us problems, honey,'' she said.**

**I did the safe thing. I said, "Yes, ma'am.''**

**She tugged on the cuffs of her leather jacket. ''Did you really think you would get away with it?"**

**The look in her eyes was beyond mad. It was evil. She's a teacher, I thought nervously. It's not like she's going to hurt me. I said, "I'll...I'll try harder, ma'am.'' Thunder shook the building.**

**''We are not fools, Percy Jackson,'' Mrs. Dodds said. "It was only a matter of time before we found you out. Confess, and you will suffer less pain.''**

**I didn't know what she was talking about. All I could think of was that the teachers must've found the illegal stash of candy I'd been selling out of my dorm room. Or maybe they'd realized I got my essay on ****_Tom Sawyer _****from the internet without ever reading the book and now they were going to take away my grade. Or worse, they were going to make me read the book.**

"Go Percy!" Most of the class yelled out. They hated book reports too.

**''Well?'' she demanded.**

**"Ma'am, I don't..."**

**"Your time is up,'' she hissed**

**Then the weirdest thing happened. Her eyes began to glow like barbecue coals. Her fingers stretched, turning into talons. Her jacket melted into large, leathery wings. She wasn't human. She was a shriveled hag with bat wings and claws and a mouth full of yellow fangs, and she was about to slice me to ribbons. Then things got even stranger. Mr. Brunner, who'd been out in front of the museum a minute before, wheeled his chair into the doorway of the gallery, holding a pen in is hand.**

**''What ho, Percy!" he shouted, and tossed the pen through the air.**

**Mrs. Dodds lunged at me.**

**With a yelp, I dodged and felt talons slash the air next to my ear. I snatched the ballpoint pen out of the air, but when it hit my hand, it wasn't a pen anymore. It was a sword...**

"What?! How?!" Almost everyone in the class yelled out. Paul smiled secretively, he knew kind of what was going on, just not a lot.

** Mr. Brunner's bronze sword, which he always used on tournament day. Mrs. Dodds spun toward me with a murderous look in her eyes.**

**My knees were jelly. My hands were shaking so bad I almost dropped the sword.**

**She snarled ''Die, honey!''**

**And she flew straight at me.**

**Absolute terror ran through my body. I did the only thing that came naturally: I swung the sword.**

"How does that come naturally?!" Madeline asked.

"I don't know, but that was AWESOME!" Ryan yelled out with Mark nodding next to him.

** The metal blade hit her shoulder and passed clean through her body as if she were made of water. ****_Hiss!_**

**Mrs. Dodds was a sand castle in a power fan. She exploded into yellow powder, vaporized on the spot, leaving nothing but the smell of sulfur and a dying screech and a chill of evil in the air, as if those two glowing red eyes were still watching me.**

"Creepy." One of the students said quietly.

**I was alone.**

**There was a ballpoint pen in my hand.**

**Mr. Brunner wasn't there. Nobody was there but me. My hands were still trembling. My lunch must've been contaminated with magic mushrooms or something.**

**Had I imagined the whole thing? I went back outside. It had started to rain.**

**Grover was sitting by the fountain, a museum map tented over his head. Nancy Bobofit was still standing there, soaked by her swim in the fountain, grumbling to her ugly friends. When she saw me, she said, ''I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your butt.''**

"Who?" Mark asked the book.

**I said, ''Who?"**

**''Our ****_teacher_****. Duh!''**

**I blinked. We had no teacher named Mrs. Kerr. I asked Nancy what she was talking about. She just rolled her eyes and turned away. I asked Grover where Mrs. Dodds was.**

** He said, ''Who?"**

**But he paused first, and he wouldn't look at me, so I thought he was messing with me. "Not funny, man,'' I told him. "This is serious."**

**Thunder boomed overhead.**

"What is it with all the thunder?!" A snobby, popular girl asked. "It was mentioned over three times!"

** I saw Mr. Brunner sitting under his red umbrella, reading his book, as if he'd never moved. I went over to him.**

**He looked up, a little distracted. "Ah, that would be my pen. Please bring your own writing utensil in the future, Mr. Jackson.''**

**I handed Mr. Brunner his pen. I hadn't even realized I was still holding it.**

**"Sir,'' I said, ''Where's Mrs. Dodds?"**

**He stared at me blankly. "Who?"**

**"The other chaperone. Mrs. Dodds. The pre-algebra teacher.''**

**He frowned and sat forward, looking mildly concerned. "Percy, there is no Mrs. Dodds on this trip. As far as I know, there has never been a Mrs. Dodds at Yancy Academy. Are you feeling alright?" **

"Either Mr. Brunner is a really, REALLY good liar, or nothing happened, and Percy imagined the whole thing." Mark said, "What do you think?" He asked Ryan.

''I don't know, but I hope Mr. Brunner is a really good liar." Ryan answered him.

"Well, that was the end of the chapter, does anyone want to read next?" Paul asked the class.

"I will." Ryan answered.

Paul handed Ran the book, and Ryan opened it up and read:

**Three Old Ladies Knit the Socks of Death**

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**So, Was it ok? I might not be able to post until Friday or Saturday 'cause I have dance class tomorrow and the next day, but I AM going to finish this book, no matter how long it takes me!**

**Fantasyluvr1234**


	3. The Socks of Death

**OMG! I can't believe I got so many views! My story can't be that good! Thanks to all who reviewed, faved, and followed. **

**Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING, even if I REALLY wanted to.**

_Paul handed Ryan the book, and Ryan opened it up and read:_

**_Three Old Ladies Knit the Socks of Death_**

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**I was used to the occasional weird experience, but usually they were over quickly. This twenty-four/seven hallucination was more than I could handle. For the rest of the school year, the entire campus seemed to be playing some kind of trick on me. The students convinced that Mrs. Kerr, a perky blond woman whom I'd never seen in my life until she got on our bus at the end of the field trip, had been out pre-algebra teacher since Christmas.**

"Wha?" was the comment that was heard throughout the class.

**Every so often I would spring a Mrs. Dodds reference on somebody, just to see if I could trip them up, but they would stare at me like a psycho.**

"He is a psycho." Mark said to Ryan, who snickered.

**It got so I almost believed them, Mrs. Dodds had never existed**

**Almost.**

**But Grover couldn't fool me. When I mentioned the name Dodds to him, he would hesitate, then claim she didn't exist. But I knew he was lying.**

**Something was going on. Something had happened at the museum. I didn't have much time to think about it during the days, but at night, visions of Mrs. Dodds with talons and leathery wings would wake me up in a cold sweat. The freak weather continued, which didn't help my mood. One night, a thunderstorm blew out the windows in my dorm room. A few days later, the biggest tornado ever spotted in Hudson Valley touched down only fifty miles from Yancy Academy. One of the current events we studied in social studies class was the unusual number of small planes that had gone down in sudden squalls in the Atlantic that year.**

_'was that the gods' doing?' _ Paul asked himself. He never got the full details of Percy's first summer at camp Half-Blood, so he didn't really know what was going on other than he knew that the gods were mad.

**I started feeling cranky and irritable most of the time. My grades slipped from Ds to Fs. I got into more fights with Nancy Bobofit and her friends. I was sent out into the hallway in almost every class.**

**Finally, when our English teacher, Mr. Nicoll, asked me for the millianth time why I was too lazy to study for spelling tests, I snapped. I called him an old sot. I wasn't even sure what it meant, but it sounded good.**

"Percy!" Paul said. "No wonder you were kicked out."

**The headmaster sent my mom a letter the following week, making it official: I would not be invited back next year to Yancy Academy.**

**Fine, I told myself. Just fine.**

**I was homesick.**

**I wanted to be with my mom in our little apartment on the Upper East Side, even if I had to go to public school and put up with my obnoxious stepfather and his stupid poker parties.**

The whole class turned and looked at Paul. "I know what you're thinking, and at that time, Percy had a different stepfather, so it was not me."

The class relaxed after he said that. They didn't want their English teacher to play poker.

**And yet... there were things I'd miss at Yancy. The view of the woods out my dorm window, the Hudson River in the distance, the smell of pine trees. I'd miss Grover, who'd been a good friend, even if he was a little strange. I worried how he'd survive next year without me.**

**I'd miss Latin class too, Mr. Brunner's crazy tournament days and his faith that I could do well.**

**As exam week got closer, Latin was the only test I studied for. I hadn't forgotten what Mr. Brunner had told me about this subject being the life-and-death for me. I wasn't sure why, but I started to believe him.**

**The evening before my final, I got so frustrated I threw the _Cambridge Guide to Greed Mythology _across my dorm room. Words had started swimming off the page, circling my head, the letters doing one-eighties as if they were riding skateboards. There was no way I was going to remember the difference between Chiron and Charon, or Polydictes and Polydeuces. And conjugating those Latin verbs? Forget it.**

"Yeah, I still get those mixed up too." Ryan said, much to the amusement of everyone else.

**I paced the room, feeling like ants were crawling around inside my shirt.**

"Ugg! That must be unpleasant." said one of the quiet kids.

**I remembered Mr. Brunner's serious expression, his thousand-year-old eyes. _I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson._**

**I took a deep breath. I picked up the mythology book. I'd never asked a teacher for help before.**

_'Percy, maybe you would get better grades if you asked for help more often.' _Paul thought sadly.

**Maybe if I talked to Mr. Brunner, he could give me some pointers. At least I could apologize for the big fat F I was about to score on his exam. I didn't want to leave Yancy Academy with him thinking I hadn't tried.**

**I walked downstairs to the faculty offices. Most of them were dark and empty, but Mr. Brunner's door was ajar, light from his window stretching across the hallway floor.**

**I was three steps from the door handle when I heard voices inside the office. Mr. Brunner asked a question. A voice that was definitely Grover's said "... worried about Percy, sir."**

"Traitor!" Ryan and Mark yelled together. The rest of the class (mostly the girls) looked at them sternly, telling Ryan to keep reading.

**I froze.**

**I'm not usually an eavesdropper, but I dare you to try not listening if you hear your best friend talking about you to an adult.**

"Good point." Mark whispered to himself.

**I inched closer.**

**"... alone this summer," Grover was saying. "I mean, a Kindly One in the _school! _Now that we know for sure, and _they _know too..."**

"Who's _they_?'' Madeline asked, she looked around to see if anyone knew the answer to her question, but when no one said anything, she looked back down at her desk thinking to herself, '_We will find out at some point in the book.'_

**"We would only make matters worse by rushing him," Mr. Brunner said. "We need the boy to mature more."**

**"But he may not have time. The summer solstice deadline..."**

**"Will have to be resolved without him, Grover. Let him enjoy his ignorance while he still can."**

**"Sir, he _saw_ her..."**

"So Mrs. Dodds _is _real!" Ryan yelled.

"No one said anything about Mrs. Dodds being the one they're talking about." Mark corrected him. "They could be talking about someone else that Percy saw."

**"His imagination," Mr. Brunner insisted. "The Mist over the students and staff will be enough to convince him of that."**

**"Sir, I...I can't fail in my duties again." Grover's voice was choked with emotion. "You know what that would mean."**

**"You haven't failed, Grover," Mr. Brunner said kindly. "I should have seen her for what she was. Now let's just worry about keeping Percy alive until next fall..."**

**The mythology book dropped out of my hand and hit the floor with a thud.**

"Busted." Said one of the snotty girls in the back of the class.

**Mr. Brunner went silent.**

**My heart hammering, I picked up the book and backed down the hall.**

**A shadow slid across the lighted glass of Brunner's office door, the shadow of something much taller than my wheelchair-bound teacher, holding something that looked suspiciously like an archer's bow**

**I opened the nearest door and slipped inside.**

**A few seconds later I heard a slow _clop-clop-clop,_ like muffled wood blocks, then a sound like and animal snuffling right outside my door. A large, dark shape paused in front of the glass, then moved on.**

**A bead of sweat trickled down my neck.**

**Somewhere in the hallway, Mr. Brunner spoke.**

**"Nothing," he murmured. "My nerves haven't been right since the winter solstice."**

**"Mine neither," Grover said. "But I could have sworn..."**

** "Go back to the dorm," Mr. Brunner told him. "You've got a long day of exams tomorrow."**

"Ugg. I hate exams." Ryan groaned, others nodded in agreement.

**"Don't remind me."**

**The lights went out in Mr. Brunner's office.**

**I waited in the dark for what seemed like forever.**

**Finally, I slipped out into the hallway and made my way back up to the dorm.**

**Grover was lying on his bed, studying his Latin exam noted like he'd been there all night.**

**"Hey," he said, bleary-eyes. "You going to be ready for this test?**

**I didn't answer.**

**"You look awful." He frowned. "Is everything okay?"**

**"Just... tired."**

"Yeah right."

**I turned so he couldn't read my expression, and started getting ready for bed.**

**I didn't understand what I'd heard downstairs. I wanted to believe I'd imagined the whole thing.**

**But one thing was clear: Grover and Mr. Brunner were talking about me behind my back. They thought I was in some kind of danger.**

**The next afternoon, as I was leaving the three-hour Latin exam,**

"Ahh! THREE HOURS!" Most of the class yelled out in horror.

** my eyes swimming with all the Greek and Roman names I'd misspelled, Mr. Brunner called me back inside. **

**For a moment, I was worried he'd found out about my eavesdropping the night before, but that didn't seem to be the problem.**

**"Percy," he said. 'Don't be discouraged about leaving Yancy. Its... its for the best."**

**His tone was kind, but the words still embarrassed me. Even though he was speaking quietly, the other kids finishing the test could hear. Nancy Bobofit smirked at me and made sarcastic little kissing motions with her lips.**

**I mumbled, "Okay, sir."**

**"I mean..." Mr. Brunner wheeled his chair back and forth, like he wasn't sure what to say. "This isn't the right place for you. It was only a matter of time."**

"This isn't going to be good." Mark told Ryan. "Percy sometimes takes things like this the wrong way."

**My eyes stung.**

**Here was my favorite teacher, in front of the class, telling me I couldn't handle it. After saying he believed in me all year, now he was telling me I was destined to get kicked out.**

**"Right," I said trembling.**

**"No, no," Mr. Brunner said. "Oh, confound it all. What I'm trying to say... you're not normal, Percy. Thats nothing to be..."**

"And Mr. Brunner just made it worse." Mark whispered to Ryan.

**"Thanks," I blurted. "Thanks a lot, sir, for reminding me."**

**"Percy..."**

**But I was already gone.**

**On the last day of the term I shoved my clothes into my suitcase.**

**The other guys were joking around, talking about their vacation plans. One of them was going on a hiking trip to Switzerland. Another was cruising the Caribbean for a month. They were juvenile delinquents, like me, but they were _rich_ juvenile delinquents. Their daddies were executives or ambassadors, or celebrities. I was a nobody, from a family of nobodies.**

**They asked me what I'd be doing this summer and I told them I was going back to the city.**

**What I didn't tell them was that I'd have to get a summer job walking dogs or selling magazine subscriptions, and spend my free time worrying about where I'd go to school in the fall.**

**"Oh." one of the guys said. "That's cool."**

**They went back to their conversation as if I'd never existed.**

"Well that's not very nice." Madeline stated.

**The only person I dreaded saying good-bye to was Grover, but as it turned out, I didn't have to. He'd booked a ticket to Manhattan on the same Greyhound as I had, so there we were, together again, heading into the city.**

**During the whole bus ride, Grover kept glancing down the aisle, watching the other passengers. It occurred to me that he'd always asted nervous and fidgety when we left Yancy, as if he expected something bad to happen. Before, I'd always assumed he was worried about getting teased but there was nobody to tease him on the Greyhound.**

**Finally I couldn't stand it anymore.**

**I said, "Looking for Kindly Ones?"**

**Grover nearly jumped out of his seat. "Wha... what do you mean?"**

**I confessed about eavesdropping on him and Mr. Brunner the night before the exam.**

**Grover's eye twitched. "How much did you hear?"**

**"Oh... not much. What's the summer solstice deadline?"**

"Yeah, what is it?" Ryan asked. "Do you know Mr. Blowfis?"

Paul smiled secretively, "I don't want to spoil the book, Ryan."

"Aww come on!"

**He winced. "Look, Percy... I was just worried for you, see? I mean, hallucinating about demon math teachers..."**

**"Grover..."**

**"And I was telling Mr. Brunner that maybe you were overstressed or something, because there was no such person as Mrs. Dodds, and..."**

** "Grover, you're a really bad liar."**

**His ears turned pink.**

**From his shirt pocket, he fished out a grubby business card. "Just take this, okay? In case you need me this summer." **

**The card was in fancy script, which was murder on my dyslexic eyes, but I finally made out something like:**

_**Grover Underwood**_

_**keeper**_

_**Half-Blood Hill**_

_**Long Island, New York**_

_**(800)-009-0009**_

"I love that phone number!" Ryan yelled out happily.

**"What's Half..."**

**"Don't say it aloud!" he yelped. "That's my, um... summer address."**

**My heart sank. Grover had a summer home. I'd never considered that his family might be as rich as the others at Yancy.**

**"Okay," I said glumly. "So, like, if I want to come visit your mansion."**

**He nodded. "Or... or if you need me"**

**"Why would I need you?"**

"Ouch"

**It came out harder than I meant it to.**

**Grover blushed right down to his Adam's apple. "Look, Percy, the truth is, I... I kind of have to protect you."**

**I stared at him.**

**All year long, I'd gotten fights, keeping bullies away from him. I'd lost sleep worrying that he'd get beaten up next year without me. And here he was acting like he was the one who defended _me._**

**"Grover," I said, "what exactly are you protecting me from?"  
**

"Yeah, what _is_ Grover protecting him from? I want to know!"

**There was a huge grinding noise under out feet. Black smoke poured from the dashboard and the whole bus filled with a smell like rotten eggs. The driver cursed and limped the Greyhound over to the side of the highway.**

**After a few minutes clanking around in the engine compartment, the driver announced that we'd all have to get off. Grover and I filed outside with everybody else.**

**We were on a stretch of country road, no place you'd notice if you didn't bread down there. On our side of the highway was nothing but maple trees and litter from passing cars. On the other side, across four lanes of asphalt shimmering with afternoon hear, was an old-fashioned fruit stand.**

**The stuff on sale looked really good: heaping boxes of bloodred cherries and apples, walnuts and apricots, jugs of cider in a claw-foot tub full of ice. There were no customers, just three old ladies sitting in rocking chairs in the shade of a maple tree, knitting the biggest pair of socks I'd ever seen**

**I mean these socks were the size of sweaters, but they were clearly socks. The lady on the right knitted one of them. The lady on the left knitted the other. The lady in the middle held an enormous basket of electric-blue yarn.**

_'That sounds familiar' _Paul thought.

**All three women looked ancient, with pale faces wrinkled like fruit leather, silver hair tied back in white bandannas, bony arms sticking out of bleached cotton dresses.**

**The weirdest thing was, they seemed to be looking right at me.**

**I looked over at Grover to say something about this and saw that the blood had drained from his face. His nose was twitching.**

_'It has to be bad too, for Grover to be freaking out like this.' _ Paul thought again.

**"Grover?" I said. "Hey, man..."**

**"Tell me they're not looking at you. They are, aren't they?"**

**"Yeah. Weird, huh? You think those socks would fit me?"**

**"Not funny, Percy. Not funny at all."**

**The old lady in the middle took out a huge pair of scissors... gold and silver, long-bladed, like shears. I heard Grover catch his breath.**

_'Could it be the fates?' _Paul thought, all the blood drained from his face, and he was getting weird looks from his students.

**"We're getting on the bus," he told me. "Come on."**

**"What?" I said, "Its a thousand degrees in there."**

**"Come on!" He pried open the door and climbed inside, but I stayed back.**

**Across the road, the old ladies were still watching me.**

**The middle one cut the yarn, and I swear I could hear that _snip_ across four lanes of traffic. Her two friends balled up the electric-blue socks, leaving me wondering who they could possibly be for... Sasquatch or Godzilla. **

**At the rear of the bus, the driver wrenched a big chunk of smoking metal out of the engine compartment. The bus shuddered, and the engine roared back to life.**

**The passengers cheered.**

**"Darn right!" yelled the driver. He slapped the bus with his hat. "Everybody back on board!"**

**Once we got going, I started feeling feverish, as if I'd caught the flu.**

**Grover didn't look much better. He was shivering and his teeth were chattering.**

**"Grover?"**

**"Yeah?"**

**"What are you not telling me?"**

**He dabbed his forehead with his shirt sleeve. "Percy, what did you see back at the fruit stand?"**

**"You mean the old ladies? What is it about them, man? They're not like... Mr. Dodds, are they?"**

**His expression was hard to read, but I got the feeling that the fruit-stand ladies were something much, much worse than Mrs. Dodds.**

_'If i'm right, then they are worse than Mrs. Dodds.' _Thought Paul yet again.

** He said, "Just tell me what you saw."**

**"The middle one took out her scissors, and she cut the yarn."**

**He closed his eyes and made a gesture with his fingers that might've been crossing himself, but it wasn't. It was something else, something almost, older.**

**He said, "You saw her snip the cord."  
**

**"Yeah. So?" But even as I said it, I knew it was a big deal.**

**"This is not happening," Grover mumbled. He started chewing at his thumb. "I don't want this to be like the last time."**

**"What last time?"**

**"Always sixth grade. They never get past sixth."**

**"Grover," I said, because he was really starting to scare me. "What are you talking about?"**

**"Let me walk you home from the bus station. Promise me."**

"I have a feeling that Percy will end up ditching Grover when he gets off the bus." Mark told Ryan.

**This seemed like a strange request to me, but I promised he could.**

**"Is this like a superstition or something?" I asked.**

**No answer.**

**"Grover, that snipping of the yarn. Does that mean somebody is going to die?"**

**He looked at me mournfully, like he was already picking the kind of flowers I'd like best on my coffin.**

"That's not creepy at all." Ryan said sarcastically as he closed the book and handed it over to Mark.

"Mr. Blowfis, are you okay?" Madeline asked, concerned for her teacher.

"I... I'm fine, Madeline. How about we start reading now?" Paul answered.

But before Mark could open the book, a bright light flashed in the room.

* * *

**And I'm done!**

**So, was it okay?**

**I think I'm going to bring in one group at a time, like Jason, Leo, Piper, Annabeth, Thalia, and Grover will be one group, and Hazel, Frank, and Percy will be another. Who should I bring in first? And is there anyone who would like Connor and Travis to come in too?**

**The next chapter will be pretty short, 'cause there will be no reading involved. It will just be the Demigods meeting the mortals and stuff like that.**

**Fantasyluvr1234**


	4. Percy, Hazel, and Frank

**Ok! I finally got this chapter up, and Percy's group is coming in first. It only won by 2 votes though, so people who wanted Annabeth's group to come in first, don't be too sad because a lot of others wanted her too. And thanks for reminding me about Nico and Reyna! I AM going to add them in, cause I think Nico is AWESOME!**

**DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN ANYTHING!**

* * *

Percy, Hazel, and Frank were heading towards Camp Jupiter as fast as they could. They just defeated Alcyoneus, and they were in the chariot they got from the wreckage on the glacier. "How long until you think we'll get there?" Percy asked. He had to yell to be heard over Arion's hoofbeats and the clattering of the chariot.

"About four hours?" Frank answered, but it sounded more like a question because he didn't really know either. Suddenly, a bright golden light shone right in front of them.

"Woah! Arion, stop!" Hazel cried out, but he was going too fast to stop, and Arion ran straight into the light.

* * *

The bright flash soon turned gold, and a sound like a horse pulling something heavy came out of the light.

"What is that?!" Mark yelled out in fright. Arion burst through the light with Percy, Hazel, and Frank holding on for dear life.

"AHHHHHHH!" Percy and Frank yelled, they were thrown off the chariot, and crashed into the wall behind them. Hazel was still holding on to Arion as he almost ran into the wall, but stopped just in time.

"Percy?!" Paul asked, he bent over and held his hand out to Percy.

"Thanks, Paul." Percy said, he grabbed Paul's hand and pulled himself up off the ground. He looked towards Hazel and Frank, "Do you know how we got here?" He asked them.

"I don't even know where ''here'' is.'' Frank answered, looking around the classroom.

"Oh, sorry. We're in my English classroom at Goode High in New York. Percy answered Frank.

"Percy? Is that really you? And how did you get here?" Ryan asked him.

"Hi, Ryan. Yes, it's really me, and I have no idea how I got here, sorry."

A piece of paper floated down on Hazel's head. She picked it up and read out loud:

_"Percy, Hazel, and Frank,_

_You are here because we thought you needed a break from the quest, and to recover from any injuries you got during it. Right now, Percy, your class is reading a book about your first quest, and they just finished the part where you saw the 3 Fates. We are going to temporarily take away the Mist for the books, and time is stopped outside of this classroom, so no, you are not late in saving the camp. _

_ Have fun reading!_

_ the gods"_

"Well that was strange." Percy said, he looked around the room and asked a random student, "Do you see anything unusual in here?" he asked.

"Well, not really... WOAH! Is that a Roman chariot?!" The student asked in awe.

"The Mist is gone." Percy said. "Can we read now? I would like to get this over with, but maybe after something to eat? We haven't had anything to eat in a long time."

Another piece of paper floated down on Hazel's head, and she read:

_"We have added a kitchen to the classroom, it has an unlimited amount of food, and everything you could think of, even nectar and ambrosia._

_the gods"_

As soon as Hazel finished reading the note, a door appeared out of no-where. Frank and Percy looked at each other and sprinted to the door. They opened it up, ran in, and slammed the door behind them.

"Boys." Hazel muttered, she calmly walked to the door and opened it, only to find that Percy and Frank had already trashed the kitchen, and they were now sitting at the long, white table eating like wild cats. "PERCY! FRANK! I leave you for 5 seconds, and you do this to the kitchen!"

"Sorry." The two boys said together, and they started eating slower.

Hazel walked out of the kitchen, and told Paul that maybe he should wait for about an hour for Percy and Frank to finish eating and clean the kitchen.

"Okay, class, you all have free time until they're done eating."

Everyone turned to their friends and talked about the book.

"Do you have any idea what is going on in the book?" Mark asked Ryan.

"No, it all seems random. Like, what is it with the three old ladies? And Mrs. Dodds?" Ryan told him.

"Yeah, I'm going to ask Percy when he's done eating. He looked REALLY hungry."

* * *

"Hey Frank?" Percy asked him. Frank looked up at Percy.

"Yeah?"

"I'm full, you?"

"Yeah, now we need to clean all this up." Frank said. He stood up and started putting everything away.

"How about I do the dishes and you put the other stuff away?" Percy asked Frank while he walked towards the sink and started washing the plates and bowls.

"Sure." Frank answered, and he began to put everything away.

A few minutes later, the two boys came out of the kitchen and sat on the couch in the corner of the room. Ryan and Mark walked up to the three demigods and Mark asked Percy, "Where were you?!"

"Its kind of hard to explain, maybe I can tell you two later?" Percy asked them.

"Fine, but your going to tell us at some point during this book." Mark answered him. Ryan and Mark went back to their seats, and Percy took the book. He opened it up to the third chapter: **"****Grover Unexpectedly Loses His Pants"**

"Who's Grover?" Hazel asked.

"My best friend." He answered. "He's also a satyr." Percy whispered to Hazel and Frank.

"Oh." Frank said quietly.


	5. Grover Looses His Pants

**I'm back! Sorry for the longish wait, I was just being really lazy. :(**

**THANK YOU! To the person who told me that there were websites where I could get the book online without typing it! That saved so much time! And it also proves that I am clueless!**

**I am thinking about bringing in Annabeth's group in, in a few chapters, like right before capture the flag or something. If you have an idea when you think they should come in, please tell me.**

**DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN ANYTHING. I'm just a 7th grader who likes reading way too much.**

_Percy opened up the book to the third chapter,_ **"****Grover**_** Unexpectedly Loses His Pants" **_

* * *

**Confession time: I ditched Grover as soon as we got to the bus terminal.**

"Percy!" Hazel exclaimed.

**I know, I know. It was rude. But Grover was freaking me out, looking at me like I was a dead man, muttering "Why does this always happen?" and "Why does it always have to he sixth grade?"**

"That's a pretty good point though." Frank told Hazel.

"Thanks Frank." Said Percy.

**Whenever he got upset, Grover's bladder acted up, so I wasn't surprised when, as soon as we got off the bus, he made me promise to wait for him, then made a beeline for the restroom. Instead of waiting, I got my suitcase, slipped outside, and caught the first taxi uptown. **

** "East One-hundred-and-fourth and First, " I told the driver. **

** A word about my mother, before you meet her. **

** Her name is Sally Jackson and she's the best person in the world, which just proves my theory that the best people have the rottenest luck. Her own parents died in a plane crash when she was five, and she was raised by an uncle who didn't care much about her. She wanted to be a novelist, so she spent high school working to save enough money for a college with a good creative-writing program. Then her uncle got cancer, and she had to quit school her senior year to take care of him. After he died, she was left with no money, no family, and no diploma.**

"Man, that _is _bad luck." Said Ryan, "Is she still that unlucky?"

"Not anymore, she's writing a book now, and we are in a better apartment." Percy answered, then went back to the book.

**The only good break she ever got was meeting my dad. **

** I don't have any memories of him, just this sort of warm glow, maybe the barest trace of his smile. My mom doesn't like to talk about him because it makes her sad. She has no pictures. **

** See, they weren't married. She told me he was rich and important, and their relationship was a secret. Then one day, he set sail across the Atlantic on some important journey, and he never came back.**

"Wow, she told the truth, and lied at the same time!" Hazel exclaimed. "But, does she know..."

"Yeah, she knows." Percy said.

**Lost at sea, my mom told me****. Not dead. Lost at sea.**

** She worked odd jobs, took night classes to get her high school diploma, and raised me on her own. She never complained or got mad. Not even once. But I knew I wasn't an easy kid.**

"Impressive."

**Finally, she married Gabe Ugliano, who was nice the first thirty seconds we knew him, then showed his true colors as a world-class jerk. When I was young, I nick-named him Smelly Gabe. I'm sorry, but it's the truth. The guy reeked like moldy garlic pizza wrapped in gym shorts.**

"Eww." Some of the girls, and a few boys whined.

**Between the two of us, we made my mom's life pretty hard. The way Smelly Gabe treated her, the way he and I got along ... Well, when I came home is a good example. **

** I walked into our little apartment, hoping my mom would be home from work. Instead, Smelly Gabe was in the living room, playing poker with his buddies. The television blared ESPN. Chips and beer cans were strewn all over the carpet. **

** Hardly looking up, he said around his cigar, "So, you're home. "**

** "Where's my mom?"**

** "Working, " he said. "You got any cash?"**

Paul clenched his hands. _That man is disgusting.__  
_

** That was it. No Welcome back. Good to see you. How has your life been the last six months?**

** Gabe had put on weight. He looked like a tuskless walrus in thrift-store clothes. He had about three hairs on his head, all combed over his bald scalp, as if that made him handsome or something. **

**He managed the Electronics Mega-Mart in Queens, but he stayed home most of the time. I don't know why he hadn't been fired long before. He just kept on collecting paychecks, spending the money on cigars that made me nauseous, and on beer, of course. Always beer. Whenever I was home, he expected me to provide his gambling funds. He called that our "guy secret. " Meaning, if I told my mom, he would punch my lights out.**

"Did he ever hit you?" About half the class asked at once.

"No." Percy said, "My mom made sure of that."

**"I don't have any cash, " I told him. **

** He raised a greasy eyebrow. **

** Gabe could sniff out money like a bloodhound, which was surprising, since his own smell should've covered up everything else.**

"Was he supposed to cover up your demigod smell?" Frank whispered to Percy.

"Yeah, and it worked really well."

** "You took a taxi from the bus station, " he said. Probably paid with a twenty. Got six, seven bucks in change. Somebody expects to live under this roof, he ought to carry his own weight. Am I right, Eddie?"**

** Eddie, the super of the apartment building, looked at me with a ****twinge of sympathy. "Come on, Gabe, " he said. "The kid just got here. "**

** "Am I right?" Gabe repeated. **

** Eddie scowled into his bowl of pretzels. The other two guys passed gas in harmony.**

Hazel looked like she was going to be sick, same with almost everyone else in the room.

** "Fine, " I said. I dug a wad of dollars out of my pocket and threw the money on the table. "I hope you lose. "**

** "Your report card came, brain boy!" he shouted after me. "I wouldn't act so snooty!"**

** I slammed the door to my room, which really wasn't my room. During school months, it was Gabe's "study. " He didn't study anything in there except old car magazines, but he loved shoving my stuff in the closet, leaving his muddy boots on my windowsill, and doing his best to make the place smell like his nasty cologne and cigars and stale beer. **

** I dropped the suitcase on my bed. Home sweet home.**

"Ahh, Percy's sarcasm. Even then, he was really good at it." Ryan said. Everyone else just looked at him weirdly.

**Gabe's smell was almost worse than the nightmares about Mrs. Dodds, or the sound of that old fruit lady's shears snipping the yarn. **

** But as soon as I thought that, my legs felt weak. I remembered Grover's look of panic-how he'd made me promise I wouldn't go home without him. A sudden chill rolled through me. I felt like someone- something-was looking for me right now, maybe pounding its way up the stairs, growing long, horrible talons. **

** Then I heard my mom's voice. "Percy?"**

"Your mom isn't Mrs. Dodds, Percy." Mark said, like he was talking to a five-year-old.

** She opened the bedroom door, and my fears melted. **

** My mother can make me feel good just by walking into the room. Her eyes sparkle and change color in the light. Her smile is as warm as a quilt. She's got a few gray streaks mixed in with her long brown hair, but I never think of her as old. When she looks at me, it's like she's seeing all the good things about me, none of the bad. I've never heard her raise her voice or say an unkind word to anyone, not even me or Gabe.**

"Your mom is awesome." Mark stated.

** "Oh, Percy. " She hugged me tight. "I can't believe it. You've ****grown since Christmas!"**

** Her red-white-and-blue Sweet on America uniform smelled like the best things in the world: chocolate, licorice, and all the other stuff she sold at the candy shop in Grand Central. She'd brought me a huge bag of "free samples, " the way she always did when I came home.**

"Lucky!"

** We sat together on the edge of the bed. While I attacked the blueberry sour strings, she ran her hand through my hair and demanded to know everything I hadn't put in my letters. She didn't mention anything about my getting expelled. She didn't seem to care about that. But was I okay? Was her little boy doing all right?**

**I told her she was smothering me, and to lay off and all that, but secretly, I was really, really glad to see her. **

** From the other room, Gabe yelled, "Hey, Sally-how about some bean dip, huh?"**

** I gritted my teeth. **

**My mom is the nicest lady in the world. She should've been married to a millionaire, not to some jerk like Gabe.**

"She's married to someone even better than a millionaire." Percy said, looking at Paul.

** For her sake, I tried to sound upbeat about my last days at Yancy Academy. I told her I wasn't too down about the expulsion. I'd lasted almost the whole year this time. I'd made some new friends. I'd done pretty well in Latin. And honestly, the fights hadn't been as bad as the headmaster said. I liked Yancy Academy. I really did. I put such a good spin on the year, I almost convinced myself. I started choking up, thinking about Grover and Mr. Brunner. Even Nancy Bobofit suddenly didn't seem so bad. **

** Until that trip to the museum ... **

** "What?" my mom asked. Her eyes tugged at my con-science, trying to pull out the secrets. "Did something scare you?"**

** "No, Mom. "**

"Don't lie to your mom!" Hazel yelled at Percy, and threw a pillow from the couch at him. "She would understand!"

"Well I didn't know then!" Percy yelled back exsaperatedly

"What are you talking about?!" Ryan asked. "Do you know what's going on?"

"You will find out soon." Percy answered him.

** I felt bad lying. I wanted to tell her about Mrs. Dodds and the three old ladies with the yarn, but I thought it would sound stupid. **

**She pursed her lips. She knew I was holding back, but she didn't push me. **

** "I have a surprise for you, " she said. "We're going to the beach. "**

**My eyes widened. "Montauk?"**

** "Three nights-same cabin. "**

** "When?"**

** She smiled. "As soon as I get changed. "**

** I couldn't believe it. My mom and I hadn't been to Montauk the last two summers, because Gabe said there wasn't enough money.**

"He probably gambled it all away." Said one of the popular girls in the class.

** Gabe appeared in the doorway and growled, "Bean dip, Sally? Didn't you hear me?"**

** I wanted to punch him, but I met my mom's eyes and I understood she was offering me a deal: be nice to Gabe for a little while. Just until she was ready to leave for Montauk. Then we would get out of here.**

** "I was on my way, honey, " she told Gabe. "We were just talking about the trip. "**

** Gabe's eyes got small. "The trip? You mean you were serious about that?"**

** "I knew it, " I muttered. "He won't let us go. "**

** "Of course he will, " my mom said evenly. "Your step-father is just worried about money. That's all. Besides, " she added, "Gabriel won't have to settle for bean dip. I'll make him enough seven-layer dip for the whole weekend. Guacamole. Sour cream. The works. "**

"Bribery, nice." Mark said slyly, "It always works on my mom."

**Gabe softened a bit. "So this money for your trip ... It comes out of your clothes budget, right?"**

** "Yes, honey, " my mother said. **

** "And you won't take my car anywhere but there and back. "**

**"We'll be very careful. "**

** Gabe scratched his double chin. "Maybe if you hurry with that seven-layer dip ... And maybe if the kid apologizes for interrupting my poker game. "**

** Maybe if I kick you in your soft spot, I thought. And make you sing soprano for a week.**

"Do it!"

** But my mom's eyes warned me not to make him mad.**

"Aww."

** Why did she put up with this guy? I wanted to scream. Why did she care what he thought?**

** "I'm sorry, " I muttered. "I'm really sorry I interrupted your incredibly important poker game. Please go back to it right now. "**

"Percy, have I ever told you how much I love your sarcasm?" Mark said to Percy.

"Yeah, didn't you tell me that when I first met you?"

"Oh yeah!" Mark exclaimed. "You used it on that really mean teacher! I'm so glad he retired."

** Gabe's eyes narrowed. His tiny brain was probably try-ing to detect sarcasm in my statement. **

** "Yeah, whatever, " he decided.**

"Wow, he must be really dim to not hear your sarcasm." Frank said.

**He went back to his game. **

**"Thank you, Percy, " my mom said. "Once we get to Montauk, we'll talk more about... Whatever you've forgotten to tell me, okay?"**

** For a moment, I thought I saw anxiety in her eyes-the same fear I'd seen in Grover during the bus ride-as if my mom too felt an odd chill in the air. **

** But then her smile returned, and I figured I must have been mistaken. She ruffled my hair and went to make Gabe his seven-layer dip. **

** An hour later we were ready to leave. **

** Gabe took a break from his poker game long enough to watch me lug my mom's bags to the car. He kept griping and groaning about losing her cooking-and more important, his '78 Camaro-for the whole weekend.**

"He didn't even miss you?" Madeline asked.

"Nah, I think he was glad my mom and I were leaving, even if we took his car with us." Percy answered.

** "Not a scratch on this car, brain boy, " he warned me as I loaded ****the last bag. "Not one little scratch. "**

** Like I'd be the one driving. I was twelve. But that didn't matter to Gabe. If a seagull so much as pooped on his paint job, he'd find a way to blame me. **

** Watching him lumber back toward the apartment build-ing, I got so mad I did something I can't explain. As Gabe reached the doorway, I made the hand gesture I'd seen Grover make on the bus, a sort of warding-off-evil gesture, a clawed hand over my heart, then a shoving movement toward Gabe. The screen door slammed shut so hard it whacked him in the butt and sent him flying up the stair-case as if he'd been shot from a cannon.**

"Awesome!" Everyone but Percy, Hazel, and Frank yelled.

**Maybe it was just the wind, or some freak accident with the hinges, but I didn't stay long enough to find out. **

** I got in the Camaro and told my mom to step on it. **

**Our rental cabin was on the south shore, way out at the tip of Long Island. It was a little pastel box with faded curtains, half sunken into the dunes. There was always sand in the sheets and spiders in the cabinets, and most of the time the sea was too cold to swim in. **

**I loved the place.**

"Of course you would." Frank mumbled under his breath.

"Shh!" Percy said, "They can't know who my dad is yet, it has to be a surprise remember?"

"Oh yeah, sorry." Frank said sheepishly.

** We'd been going there since I was a baby. My mom had been going even longer. She never exactly said, but I knew why the beach was special to her. It was the place where she'd met my dad. **

** As we got closer to Montauk, she seemed to grow younger, years of worry and work disappearing from her face. Her eyes turned the color of the sea. **

** We got there at sunset, opened all the cabin's windows, and went through our usual cleaning routine. We walked on the beach, fed blue corn chips to the seagulls, and munched on blue jelly beans, blue saltwater taffy, and all the other free samples my mom had brought from work.**

"What's with all the blue food?" Most of the class asked Percy.

** I guess I should explain the blue food.**

"Yeah, that would be nice." Ryan said.

** See, Gabe had once told my mom there was no such thing. They had this fight, which seemed like a really small thing at the time. But ever since, my mom went out of her way to eat blue. She baked blue birthday cakes. She mixed blueberry smoothies. She bought**

**blue-corn tortilla chips and brought home blue candy from the shop. This-along with keeping her maiden name, Jackson, rather than call-ing herself Mrs. Ugliano was proof that she wasn't totally suckered by Gabe. She did have a rebellious streak, like me.**

"Percy, I hate to break it to you, but for you, its _way_ more than a streak." Frank told him.

"Well I _did_ get it from both my mom and dad." Percy countered

"Good point."

** When it got dark, we made a fire. We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. Mom told me stories about when she was a kid, back before her parents died in the plane crash. She told me about the books she wanted to write someday, when she had enough money to quit the candy shop. **

**Eventually, I got up the nerve to ask about what was always on my mind whenever we came to Montauk-my father. Mom's eyes went all misty. I figured she would tell me the same things she always did, but I never got tired of hearing them. **

** "He was kind, Percy, " she said. "Tall, handsome, and powerful. But gentle, too. You have his black hair, you know, and his green eyes. "**

** Mom fished a blue jelly bean out of her candy bag. "I wish he could see you, Percy. He would be so proud. "**

**I wondered how she could say that. What was so great about me? A dyslexic, hyperactive boy with a D+ report card, kicked out of school for the sixth time in six years. **

** "How old was I?" I asked. "I mean ... When he left?"**

** She watched the flames. "He was only with me for one summer, Percy. Right here at this beach. This cabin. "**

** "But... He knew me as a baby. "**

** "No, honey. He knew I was expecting a baby, but he never saw you. He had to leave before you were born. "**

"He saw me, just in secret so the others didn't find out." Percy whispered.

** I tried to square that with the fact that I seemed to remember ... Something about my father. A warm glow. A smile. **

** I had always assumed he knew me as a baby. My mom had never said it outright, but still, I'd felt it must be true. Now, to be told that he'd never even seen me ... **

**I felt angry at my father. Maybe it was stupid, but ****I resented him for going on that ocean voyage, for not having the guts to marry my mom. He'd left us, and now we were stuck with Smelly Gabe.**

** "Are you going to send me away again?" I asked her. "To another boarding school?"**

** She pulled a marshmallow from the fire. **

** "I don't know, honey. " Her voice was heavy. "I think ... I think we'll have to do something. "**

** "Because you don't want me around?"**

"Percy!" Hazel yelled at him. "You don't say stuff like that to your mom!"

**I regretted the words as soon as they were out.**

"But I regretted it after I said it." Percy told her.

** My mom's eyes welled with tears. She took my hand, squeezed it tight. "Oh, Percy, no. I-I have to, honey. For your own good. I have to send you away. "**

** Her words reminded me of what Mr. Brunner had said-that it was best for me to leave Yancy. **

** "Because I'm not normal, " I said.**

**"You say that as if it's a bad thing, Percy. But you don't realize how important you are. **

_'You were really important to the outcome of the war.' _Paul thought.

**I thought Yancy Academy would be far enough away. I thought you'd finally be safe. "**

** "Safe from what?"**

"Monsters." Frank said out loud, and the rest of the room heard him.

"Monsters?" Madeline asked. "What does this have to do with monsters?"

"You'll find out in the next few chapters." Percy said glaring at Frank.

** She met my eyes, and a flood of memories came back to me-all the weird, scary things that had ever happened to me, some of which I'd tried to forget. **

**During third grade, a man in a black trench coat had stalked me on the playground. When the teachers threatened to call the police, he went away growling, but no one believed me when I told them that under his broad-brimmed hat, the man only had one eye, right in the middle of his head.**

"That's not creepy at all." Ryan said sarcastically.

** Before that-a really early memory. I was in preschool, and a teacher accidentally put me down for a nap in a cot that a snake had slithered into. My mom screamed when she came to pick me up and found me playing with a limp, scaly rope I'd somehow managed to strangle to death with my meaty toddler hands.**

_'Hercules' _Paul thought in amazement.

**In every single school, something creepy had happened, something unsafe, and I was forced to move. **

** I knew I should tell my mom about the old ladies at the fruit stand, and Mrs. Dodds at the art museum, about my weird hallucination that I had sliced my math teacher into dust with a sword. But I couldn't make myself tell her. I had a strange feeling the news would end our trip to Montauk, and I didn't want that. **

** "I've tried to keep you as close to me as I could, " my mom said. "They told me that was a mistake. But there's only one other option, Percy-the place your father wanted to send you. And I just... I just can't stand to do it. "**

** "My father wanted me to go to a special school?"**

** "Not a school, " she said softly. "A summer camp. "**

** My head was spinning. Why would my dad-who hadn't even stayed around long enough to see me born talk to my mom about a summer camp? And if it was so important, why hadn't she ever mentioned it before?**

**"I'm sorry, Percy, " she said, seeing the look in my eyes. "But I can't talk about it. I-I couldn't send you to that place. It might mean saying good-bye to you for good. "**

**"For good? But if it's only a summer camp ... "**

"Year-rounders." Percy whispered to Hazel and Frank.

Madeline heard him and thought. _'A summer camp where kids stay all year? Is there such thing as that?'_

** She turned toward the fire, and I knew from her expression that if I asked her any more questions she would start to cry. **

** That night I had a vivid dream.**

"I hate dreams." Percy, Frank, and Hazel said together, while everyone else looked at them weirdly.

** It was storming on the beach, and two beautiful animals, a white horse and a golden eagle, were trying to kill each other at the edge of the surf. The eagle swooped down and slashed the horse's muzzle with its huge talons. The horse reared up and kicked at the eagles wings. As they fought, the ground rumbled, and a monstrous voice chuck-led somewhere beneath the earth, goading the animals to fight harder. **

** I ran toward them, knowing I had to stop them from killing each other, but I was running in slow motion. I knew I would be too late. I saw the eagle dive down, its beak aimed at the horse's ****wide eyes, and I screamed, No!**

** I woke with a start. **

** Outside, it really was storming, the kind of storm that cracks trees and blows down houses. There was no horse or eagle on the beach, just lightning making false daylight, and twenty-foot waves pounding the dunes like artillery. **

** With the next thunderclap, my mom woke. She sat up, eyes wide, and said, "Hurricane. "**

** I knew that was crazy. Long Island never sees hurricanes this early in the summer. But the ocean seemed to have for-gotten. Over the roar of the wind, I heard a distant bellow, an angry, tortured sound that made my hair stand on end. **

** Then a much closer noise, like mallets in the sand. A desperate voice-someone yelling, pounding on our cabin door.**

Everyone was leaning forwards in their chairs in anticipation.

** My mother sprang out of bed in her nightgown and threw open the lock. **

**Grover stood framed in the doorway against a backdrop of pouring rain. But he wasn't... He wasn't exactly Grover.**

"What do you mean?" A random shy kid asked, but no one answered.

** "Searching all night, " he gasped. "What were you thinking?"**

** My mother looked at me in terror-not scared of Grover, but of why he'd come. **

** "Percy, " she said, shouting to be heard over the rain. "What happened at school? What didn't you tell me?"**

** I was frozen, looking at Grover. I couldn't understand what I was seeing. **

** "O Zeu kai alloi theoi!" he yelled. "It's right behind me! Didn't you tell her?"**

"What kind of language was that?!" Ryan asked Percy.

Percy just kept reading.

** I was too shocked to register that he'd just cursed in Ancient Greek, and I'd understood him perfectly.**

"How?" Someone called out.

**I was too shocked to wonder how Grover had gotten here by himself in the middle of the night. Because Grover didn't have his pants on-and where his legs should be ... Where his legs should be ...**

"Come on Percy, just spit it out already!" Mark said in exasperation.

**My mom looked at me sternly and talked in a tone she'd never used before: "Percy. Tell me now!"**

** I stammered something about the old ladies at the fruit stand, and Mrs. Dodds, and my mom stared at me, her face deathly pale in the flashes of lightning.**

"What does she know?" Mark asked Percy.

"Everything." He answered.

** She grabbed her purse, tossed me my rain jacket, and said, "Get to the car. Both of you. Go!"**

**Grover ran for the Camaro-but he wasn't running, exactly. He was trotting, shaking his shaggy hindquarters, and suddenly his story about a muscular disorder in his legs made sense to me. I understood how he could run so fast and still limp when he walked. **

** Because where his feet should be, there were no feet. There were cloven hooves. **

"What?! How is that possible!" Ali yelled out

"Everything is explained in the next few chapters, just be patient." Percy told her calmly.

"Be patient? Percy, you can't tell someone else to be patient when _you_ can't." Ryan said, but Percy ignored him.

"So, who wants to read next?" Percy asked.

"I will!" Frank called out, and Percy handed him the book.

Frank opened the book and read, **"My Mother Teaches Me Bullfighting"**

"That's an interesting title." Mark said. "Does it really happen?"

"Im a way." Percy answered, and Mark went silent.

* * *

**So, was everything ok? **

**The next chapter will probably be out by next week, but no promises! I am a VERY BAD procrastinator, so I'm sorry if the updates don't come as often as you would like. :)**

**Fantasyluvr1234**


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